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How Good is Your Commute Benefit?

By on February 9, 2012 in Commuting

Portland Afoot, the 10-minute low-car life news magazine (disclaimer – I’m on their board), would like to know. They’ve put together a survey they’d like you to have your HR department fill out for the “best employers” feature in their April issue.

Would You Like Fries with Your Sprawl?

By on February 1, 2011 in Commuting

I’m told that the room for the weekly PSU Transportation Seminars now allows food and drink. Take advantage at this presentation:

Portland State University
Center for Transportation Studies
Winter 2011 Transportation Seminar Series

Speaker: Joe Cortright, Impresa

Topic: How Sprawl is Lengthening our Commutes and Why Misleading Mobility Measures are Making Things Worse

Abstract: This report offers a new view of urban transportation performance. It explores the key role that land use and variations in travel distances play in determining how long Americans spend in peak hour travel. It shows how the key tool contained in the Urban Mobility Report – the Travel Time Index – actually penalizes cities that have shorter travel distances and conceals the additional burden caused by longer trips in sprawling metropolitan areas. Finally, it critically examines the reliability and usefulness of the methodology used in the Urban Mobility Report, finding it does not accurately estimate travel speeds, it exaggerates travel delays, and it overestimates the fuel consumption associated with urban travel. How we measure transportation systems matters, and the nation needs a better set of measures than it has today.

When: Friday, February 4 2011, 12:00 – 1:00pm

Where: PSU Urban Center Building, SW 6th and Mill, Room 204

Updated: Transit Tax Benefit to Expire?

By on December 21, 2010 in Activism, Commuting

Update: 12/21/10

The benefit is safe for 2011.

Original post: 11/23/10

Part of the stimulus bill was a provision that allowed employer-provided transit benefits to be deductible expenses at the same level as parking: up to $230 per month.

That provision will expire in January and the cap on deductible transit benefits will return to $120 per month.

T4America has a petition drive going to ask Congress to keep the limit equal between driving and transit.